Top Tips – How To Paint a Landscape
- February 13th, 2004
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Check out the video version of this guide on Howcast.com:
How To Paint a Landscape
Get more great tips on art and painting on Howcast.com:
Art Techniques
Step 1: Choose your paint
Choose if you want to work in oil, acrylic or watercolor. Whatever you decide, choose the appropriate paints for your medium.
Step 2: Get a filbert brush
Leave all of your brushes at home except for a single filbert brush. As you progress in landscapes, add and experiment with other brushes.
Step 3: Bring water and rags
Bring lots of water and rags.
Step 4: Set up your easel
In the middle of the day, go set up your easel In a comfortable location that has a good view.
The light changes the least over a given number of hours in the middle of the day.
Step 5: Sketch your drawing
Using the pencil, sketch your painting on your sketch pad. Make only very rough shapes — triangles, arcs, blobs —to give it a general look and feel.
Painting is less about the medium (paint, pastel, pencil) and more about how you create the image. Drawings use lines. Paintings use shape.
Step 6: Work out values
When you’re happy with the composition, it’s time to work out the values, or lightness and darkness. On a scale of 1 to 10, choose a key object with a middle value.
Step 7: Eye the composition
Eye your composition, or structure. What’s lighter than the object you chose? What’s darker? What’s in between and by how much?
Step 8: Choose values for all other objects
Using that value as your key, begin choosing values for all of the other objects in your composition.
Step 9: Color your key object
Once you’re done, turn to the canvas and select a color for the key object.
You will probably need to mix paints to get the value you need.
Step 10: Paint the rough key object
Paint the rough shape of your key object.
Wash your brush thoroughly between colors in your jar of water. Dry on a rag.
Step 11: Paint another object
Choose an object touching your key object. Choose a color and assign it a middle value. Paint its rough shape. Stick to the middle values, avoiding highlights and shadows at this stage.
Step 12: Keep painting
Keep working around your composition until you’ve blocked off the whole piece.
Step 13: Appraise composition
Step back and look at your composition. Does it feel right?
Step 14: Assign and develop contrast
Now go back in to your piece and begin assigning and painting colors with more accurate values for ever-smaller shapes around the piece. Your contrast will begin to develop.
Start with lighter values, then move toward darker values.
Step 15: Add shadows
Add in your shadows in. Generally, you’ll want a cooler color. Avoid pure black.
Step 16: Add highlights
Finally, add the highlights. These will be something in the family of the color of your light source, but avoid pure white.
Step 17: Sign and date the painting
When you’re satisfied with your painting, sign the front, and, when it’s dry, use a marker on the back to identify the title, place, and date.
Color theory is the practice of picking and identifying colors for specific situations, like in advertising or design.
